SM U 103

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SM U 103
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German EmpireGerman Empire (Reichskriegsflagge)
Construction data
Submarine type: Two-hull ocean-
going boat official draft from MS -type
war mission F
Series: U 99 - U 104
Builder: AG Weser, Bremen
Build number: 254
Launch: June 9, 1917
Commissioning: July 15, 1917
Technical specifications
Displacement: 750 tons (above water)
952 tons (under water)
Length: 67.60 m
Width: 6.32 m
Draft: 3.65 m
Pressure body ø: 4.05 m
Max. Diving depth: 50 m
Dive time: 45-52 p
Drive: Diesel engines 2400 PS
E-machines 1200 PS
Speed: 16.5 knots (above water)
8.8 knots (under water)
Armament: 2 × 50 cm bow torpedo tube
2 × 50 cm stern
torpedo tube (10–12 torpedoes)
1 × 10.5 cm deck gun (from 1918)
2 (from 1918 1) × 8.8 cm deck gun
Mission data
Commander:
  • Carl Rücker
Crew (target strength): 4 officers
32 men
Calls: 5
Successes: 7 sunk merchant ships
Whereabouts: in the English Channel after ramming by on May 12, 1918 RMS Olympic fallen

SM (His Majesty) U 103 was a deep sea submarine of the series U 99 - U 104 of the German Imperial Navy . It sank seven ships in the First World War until it was sunk by ramming from the Olympic .

Calls

U 103 was launched on June 9, 1917 at the AG Weser in Bremen from the stack and was put into service on 15 July 1917th From August 1917 the boat was assigned to the II. U- Flotilla in Helgoland and Wilhelmshaven . The first and only commanding officer was Lieutenant Claus Rücker.

U 103 led five during World War enterprises in the eastern North Atlantic through. Seven merchant ships with a total tonnage of 15,481  GRT were sunk.

The largest ship sunk by U 103 was the French cargo ship Depute Pierre Goujon with a dimension of 4121 GRT. The ship was sunk on November 12, 1917 off the coast of northern France near Belle-Île .

On March 18, 1918, U 103 torpedoed the British freighter Grainton southwest of Anglesey ( Wales ). The over 6000 GRT ship was on a voyage from Birkenhead to Lough Swilly . However, it was only damaged in the attack and was able to reach a port.

Whereabouts

In May 1918, U 103 formed a combat group with U 46 , U 55 , U 70 and U 94 , which was to attack a convoy in the western English Channel . On the night of May 12, 1918, U 103 was sighted in the canal by the British liner Olympic , which was carrying US troops to England. In the dark, the crew of U 103 noticed the large ship too late to get into a favorable firing position. The Olympic headed directly for the U 103 , which had surfaced . The initiated alarm diving failed. U 103 was rammed around 4 o'clock at position 49 °  N , 5 °  W. A stern propeller of the Olympic damaged the tower and the pressure hull of the submarine, which had already been submerged and which had to be abandoned. 35 submariners, including the commander, were later rescued by the US destroyer USS Davis . Ten crew members were killed.

See also

German submarine projects until 1919

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Karl Müller, Erlangen, 1993, p. 136.
  2. ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Karl Müller, Erlangen, 1993, p. 123.
  3. ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Karl Müller, Erlangen, 1993, p. 69.
  4. ↑ According to www.uboat.net , eight ships with a total of 15,467 tons were sunk and one ship with 6,042 tons was damaged.
  5. ↑ www.uboat.net: WWI U-boat Successes - Ships hit by U 103 (Engl.)
  6. ↑ www.uboat.net Ships hit during WWI - Depute Pierre Goujon (engl.)
  7. ↑ Depute Pierre Goujon on www.wrecksite.eu (Engl.)
  8. ↑ Ships hit during WWI - Grainton (Eng.)
  9. ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars . Urbes, Graefelfing, 1998, p. 49.

literature

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